Still doubts

Altmaier retired from the US Open and has not played since, withdrawing from Chengdu with the same injury (with the addition of "other physical problems")

The kind of match where we never really know how to position ourselves, Altmaier perhaps felt a bit right for Chengdu and didn't take any risks? We can't lay him physically because we don't really know what the situation is, we'll take it with a grain of salt but it's not reassuring in any case. On the other side we have Shapovalov who surprised a lot of people at the US Open, especially against Sinner where he was brilliant! He has already reached the semi-finals twice in this tournament and is a big outsider if his tennis is in place this week. He got married last week too, always tricky to know how he handled that but it's more positive than negative right now. In terms of match-ups, we obviously like Shapovalov's left-handed/aggressive player profile against a right-handed player with a one-handed backhand. Even if Altmaier is a remarkable defender/blocker, he has his limits against such power, and as is often the case, matches depend more on Shapovalov than on his opponents. But backing the Canadian on a R1 against a player like Altmaier is a bit tricky, isn't it?